God's Holy Fire: 'Transfigured to Be Like the Messiah'

Friday, September 5, 2025

Whenever, though, [the Israelites] turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are — face to face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
— 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 MSG

Key Thought

No passage better describes the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives than this one. We've met it before in our God's Holy Fire devotionals, but it is worth hearing it from different translations. The work of the Holy Spirit is so vital in the new covenant people of God, as we have seen in previous devotionals. God is a personal presence through the living Holy Spirit, alive in us to transfigure us into the character and compassion of Jesus. That is the Spirit's goal - that Jesus would come to live in us in our daily lives as we are transformed to be more and more like him each day.

Today's Prayer

Almighty God, do your work in me to make me more like Jesus today than yesterday, and even more like him every tomorrow until that day he brings me home to you. I thank you for the Holy Spirit, who is your living presence in me and who is given me by your grace to accomplish this work in me. In Jesus' name, I thank you! Amen.

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Illustration

Illustration of 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 MSG — And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

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About This Devotional

God's Holy Fire is a daily devotional about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The Thoughts and Prayer for God's Holy Fire are written by Phil Ware.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked MESSAGE are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

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Translations